1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to alerting systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for alerting an aircrew of terrorist activities occurring in a cabin of an aircraft.
2. Description of Related Art
As discussed in patent application Ser. No. 10/017,547 ('547), the threat of terrorism on commercial aircraft has recently increased. '547 provided a system and method for covertly alerting a cockpit crew of a terrorist or other dangerous incidences occurring in the cabin area. Although '547 provided a novel method of alerting the cockpit crew of such disturbances, '547 did not provide a method of informing other cabin crew members of any dangerous situations. Because of the size of today's commercial aircraft, incidences occurring in one section of the cabin may go unnoticed by flight attendants locating in another section of the cabin. '547 only provided an alert to the cockpit crew. A system and method is needed which enables all flight attendants to be informed of a dangerous incident. In addition, the system should provide an alert in such a manner as to not alert or alarm other passengers of the incident. U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,320 to Monroe (Monroe), U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,035 to Stahl et al. (Stahl), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,390 to Schlager et al. (Schlager) all disclose various types of alerting devices. However, Monroe, Schlager and Stahl do not teach or suggest a system or method which enables mobile units to covertly alert other mobile units of a dangerous system.
Another problem associated with the carriage of fobs by flight attendants involves the administration and control of such fobs held by flight attendants. With the amount of flights and flight attendants involved within airline operations, it is quite possible that a flight attendant may inadvertently walk off of an aircraft, after the completion of a flight, with the fob still in her possession. The system should provide an alert to both the flight attendant and the cockpit crew that the fob is no longer on the aircraft. Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have a system and method which provides an alert to all cabin crew members when a dangerous incident is occurring, as well as an alert when a fob carried by a cabin crew member is carried from an aircraft. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a system and method.